Meet the stranded seals nursing back to health in NJ

BRIGANTINE – It’s seal stranding season in New Jersey, which means the Marine Mammal Stranding Center is busy.

For more than 45 years, the center has nursed marine mammals and turtles back to health across the state. Since opening in 1978, the Marine Mammal Stranding Center has responded to over 6,000 incidents, according to its website.

While the center has dealt with an escaped California sea lion and a beluga whale in the Delaware River, the vast majority of cases involve seals, sea turtles and bottlenose dolphins.

Many of the center’s seals are found on beaches, but it’s illegal to approach or touch them. The center recommends staying at least 150 feet away from a seal and contacting the center at (609) 266-0538 immediately.

More: They rescue ailing seals — plus dolphins, turtles and whales — along Jersey’s shores

There are currently three seals at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center’s intensive care unit. Here’s a little more about each of them.

Grey seal found on Point Pleasant Beach sidewalk

On Jan. 12, a jogger found a four-week-old seal pup lying on the sidewalk along Baltimore Avenue in Point Pleasant Beach, likely after a coastal storm that breached the bulkhead at Lake Louise. The seal was transported to the center, where technicians have had to help her eat fish and fluids because she was not eating on her own. The seal is lethargic and thin, weighing less than 28 pounds.

The seal is in guarded condition, and the Marine Mammal Stranding Center expects to know more about her prognosis soon. She’s currently being kept in a dry tank, with supervised swimming time due to her weakened condition.

Grey seal rescued from beach in Sea Bright

On Jan. 11, a four-week-old grey seal was found on the beach in Sea Bright. After arriving at the center, the 35-pound seal responded well to feeding, eventually eating on his own, and has since shed his lanugo, a white coat visible on young seals weeks after birth.

The center expects to release the seal back into the wild after he’s fully recovered and gains weight.

Harbor seal bitten by shark on Long Beach Island

On Christmas Day, the center responded to reports of an injured harbor seal in Surf City. Technicians found the seal with a large laceration on his left hip and multiple smaller wounds on his abdomen and tail.

Veterinarians at the center determined the seal was likely bitten by a shark, and administered both oral and topical medications.

The seal’s smaller wounds have almost healed completely, and the large laceration is starting to heal, as well, the center said in a Facebook post. The center expects to upgrade him from the intensive care unit to a pool in the coming weeks.

More: Jenkinson’s Aquarium mourns loss of Luseal, a ‘local at heart’

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He’s won a few awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.